Charatan pipes have had a very eventful past. They started off life being made in London, were bought by an American company, Lanes, then later sold to Dunhill Pipes, who sold them to another company before buying them back several years later!

VINTAGE CHARATANS MAKE RARITY EXTRA LARGE PIPE LONDON ENGLAND MADE BY HAND Reg $92.99

CHARATAN EXECUTIVE PIPE $60.00

ENGLISH ESTATE PIPE CHARATAN 320 DC BELVEDERE $125.00

CHARATANS MAKE Tobacco Pipe VGC $37.99

Charatan Ring Grain Apple Bowl Pipe $9.95

BEN WADE 70s Vintage CHARATAN ERA Estate Pipe MINT CLEAN z24 $55.00

Estate Tobacco Smoking Pipe Charatans Make Distinction Handmade in London $37.66

Judds Very Nice Lane Era Charatans Free Hand Relief Pipe $33.10

CHARATAN SPECIAL LANE ERA PIPE $18.83

Judds Very Nice Charatans Make Distinction Pipe $46.00

CHARATAN SPECIAL ENGLISH ESTATE PIPE $42.95

Charatan Special S 10 Pipe $135.00

Pipe Charatan Semi Squat Buldog Lane era Charatan $32.11

Pipe Charatan estate pipe full bent shaft $20.00

FANTASTIC Lane Era Charatans Make RELIEF GRAIN BIG CLASSIC 3 4 BENT Estate Pipe $30.00

Charatan pipes started life in 1863 when Frederick Charatan, who was a Russian-Jewish immigrant, opened up his shop in central London. He began by carving meerschaum pipes, which soon became very popular, so Charatan moved his business to a bigger workshop. He then began to carve briar pipes, actually becoming the first pipe brand to produce entirely hand-made briar pipes from the rough block to completed pipe, including stems.

Being known as the top English pipemaker, Charatan was actually approached by Alfred Dunhill. Dunhill was very unhappy with the quality of pipes that he was importing from France. So during 1908 - 1910 Alfred Dunhill purchased pipes directly from Charatan, although paying very high prices to make sure he had the very best pipes available for sale in England. Then in 1910 Dunhill managed to lure away Joel Sasieni from Charatan, one of his best carvers, to open his own pipe workshop in London.

In around 1950 an American, Herman G. Lane, was looking to expand his business into England. Lane Ltd. soon became the sole distributor for Charatan’s in the US. Soon Charatan pipes became hugely popular in the States, so in 1960 Lanes bought the company. Then in 1978 Lane's heirs sold Charatan to Dunhill!

Then, in 1988 Dunhill sold the rights to Charatan to James B. Russell Inc. a New Jersey company. Russell had their Charatan pipes made in France. However, these Charatans were terribly poor imitations of the original pipes and sales dropped. Eventually, in 2002, Russell went out of business and Dunhill re-purchased Charatan.